Entrepreneurship Education and its Effects on the Function of Rural Women's Businesses

Education is one of the most important factors in developing entrepreneurial activities. Rural women entrepreneurs would be able to cope with barriers and also use new methods in accordance with modern technology and market changes through education. The main purpose of the study was to analyze the effects of entrepreneurship education on the function of rural women's businesses. All rural women members of the Agricultural Development Specialized Holding Companies in Fars Province were included in this research statistical population. The study was conducted using survey method and the sample included 269 rural women based on stratified random sampling. Required data was collected through a questionnaire. The findings revealed that attending educational classes had a great impact on motivation, skills, awareness, and entrepreneurship knowledge of rural women. Based on the results of analysis of variance, there were significant differences between women in the three different groups regarding their participation in entrepreneurship classes in terms of entrepreneurial activities development, individual resilience, business resilience, marketing methods and the virtual social networks use. Furthermore, there were significant differences between groups with different entrepreneurial knowledge in terms of entrepreneurial activity development, individual resilience, business resilience, marketing methods and the virtual social networks use. Finally, the study attempted to provide some applicable recommendations in order to improve rural women's entrepreneurial businesses.